There is so much great local entertainment and so many great venues at which to watch them.  Some bands and venues are great at marketing and promoting themselves.  Many really struggle with the marketing and promotion, especially the bands!  They just want to play their music to a lively audience.  It’s so encouraging to speak with a guest or a party planner and have them tell you that the entertainment made the event!  That’s what we are all about.  Connecting bands to just the right venue or event.  And making a lasting memory!

Opening night at Segerstom Center for the Arts (formerly Orange County Performing Arts Center and not an empty seat was in view. The curtain was down, covered with a map of the “Land of Oz”. The audience was loud, anticipating what only can be described as a welcome return of Wicked to Orange County.

What makes this show so entertaining, beside the beautiful costumes, talented actors and engaging musical score, is the snarky little references to the Wizard of Oz. It’s worth it to see Wicked just to keep an ear open for the very witty, very randomly inserted mentions, double entendre that only one who had seen The Wizard of Oz would “get.”

The Wizard of Oz was told from Dorothy’s point of view. In Wicked, the focus is on the life of and relationship between Galinda (the so called Good Witch or just the Good) and Elphaba (the Wicked Witch, or aka. the Wicked Witch of the West). And did I mention, that Elphaba was born a lovely shade of green? Made her life very interesting from the beginning.

The plot twists and turns as does Galinda’s and Elphaba’s relationship. When they first meet, they are forced into sharing a dorm room at Shiz University. The two instantly despise one another. Galinda is like a modern-day Paris Hilton—she’s got the clothes, the shoes, the accessories and Elphaba is, well, green and doesn’t really dress to impress. Their relationship slowly begins to turn into a friendship. Elphaba is more skilled at wizardry and ends up assisting the Wizard of Oz. Galinda (now known as Glinda—a story for another day!) accompanies Elphaba to Oz and does her best to keep up. Elphaba slowly begins to realize that the wizard is not only lacking in skills but not a very good man. While in Oz, Elphaba needs to go back home and visit her sister. When she arrives, her sister asks her why she is there.  Elphaba says, ”There’s no place like home!”  Sound familiar? Then a bit later, when Elphaba is back in OZ and having a conversation with Glinda, she very cattily says to Glinda, “Just because you travel around in a bubble!” There are many of these references to the Wizard of Oz, which just adds to the enjoyment of the show. I don’t want to be a spoiler for the show so I won’t give away any more.

It really doesn’t matter if you are a fan of the Wizard of Oz, you can love Wicked too!  They are so different and both so enjoyable.  So my recommendation is to just “follow the yellow brick road” over to Segerstom Center for the Performing Arts, sit back and enjoy!

The show I am seeing is Arthur Miller’s “All My Sons.” I know the show, I know the plot, and I am very familiar with the playwright. So why am I giving up my Sunday afternoon(sunshine and all) to sit with 90 others, mostly unknown to me? Is it because I can’t think of anything better to do? Or maybe my life is so fantastic that I needed a little dark drama to take me down a notch or two. Nope, I am pretty sure the answer to both of those questions is a resounding “no.”

Time spent watching plots unfold and characters interact simply takes you away. In this case, to another time—1946 to be exact. And to another era—shortly after the end of World War II. The characters slowly start to emerge and the plot begins to twist and turn. The audience starts to figure out the relationships between the characters and the anticipation begins. We begin to wonder things like: Did this really happen? Could a situation like this occur today? …And on and on.
And that’s when I realize, we are watching “life.” We may talk a little differently today than we did back in the 1940s. It’s pretty obvious that we dress differently, no more suspenders for men, and when is the last time you saw a woman of a “certain age” in a housecoat? Or the neighborhood preteen in overalls? But here’s what’s interesting, we still have wars and the need to support the men and women that fight in them. We still fall in love, some of us still marry and have families. Most of us go to work knowing that when our day is done, we can enjoy time with friends and family.

And that’s why my afternoon was so worth it. It reinforced that as much as things change, they also stay the same.  I don’t need to laugh for two acts or cry for two either, although sometimes that does happen. I just seek to be entertained with just a little slice of life—a peek at the way things were, or perhaps the way we want them to be. But in the end, its really just “life.”  And that’s what is so great about the theatre.

Originally posted at www.OCinSite.com